insider wrote:last night I was raving to my daughter about the efficient bus system of Nanjing and she replied with news about this MRT broke down and how her friend was stuck on it.

I am currently in Nanjing. I only took one time of cab from the airport to the hotel, other than that, all moving around by buses.

I am very impressed with their bus system:

1) There are MANY buses plying different routes (they also have an MRT system but I prefer taking buses).

2) Per route is not long (probably 60 minutes per one way) and the distance between stops is about 1 to 2 km, meaning no sweat if missing a stop.

3) At EVERY station, there is CLEAR LABEL of the route of each bus.

4) At EVERY STOP, there will be PA system announcing clearly the station name. Unless one cannot hear, otherwise it is difficult to miss the station.

5) Transfers of buses are easy (aided by clear signboards).

6) Per trip regardless of distance is RMB2 (about S$0.40) if paid by cash. If paying with stored value card, should be cheaper. All old folks have old folks cards like us but I think they really paying minimal for their fare. Morning or night I see these old folks on buses and so I don't think they are restricted with specific hours for travelling in order to enjoy the concession.

7) Buses come FREQUENTLY/REGULARLY and I am yet to encounter a bus that I have to squeeze and 90% of the time I can get a seat!

I am totally blown away with this efficient system which unlike Singapore that many times I still have to figure out what buses go where, how to transfer, where to alight, etc. Nanjing buses may not look as comfy as ours (their buses are like our buses about 20 years ago), but I would anytime trade this comfort for great convenience.

This is my 5th day here, in a city that I've never been before and yet I never have fears of I will lose my way coz I have complete faith that there will definitely be a bus that will bring me back to my hotel safely. In Singapore, I never have this feeling (and I have to depend heavily on our cabs...)

Have we been taken for a ride by our transport company???

I can't even depend on cab drivers to know the way around Singapore. Remember I took a cab. After going off, cab driver told us don't know how to go budget terminal. And we are rushing off to catch a plane!

Have to ask around other drivers by rolling the windows down... The taxi drivers should all be provided with GPRS system.

Let's see. SMRT is corporate company. Corporate companies are to maximise profits so that the shareholders are happy.

Frequent train journeys do not maximise profits. Frequent train repairs and maintenance do not maximise profits.

Hence it is unnecessary.

Privatisation of SMRT is the answer!

From the way I see from the response, doubt she will resign.

No accountability No compensation to affected passengers too Passengers que hours for taxi, pay for the increased taxi fares, or take few different buses to reach the location due to the crowds...walk around the places to find transport? Their problem So what breakdown Just apologise, say will look into the matter and then nothing...